Have you felt emotional distress at work because of the abusive way your boss treats you? Many of the people who contact me for help in dealing with a bully boss feel this way, and they want to sue their boss in court for all the workplace abuse he or she has inflicted.
When someone like this tells me they want to sue, the first thing they say is that their boss caused “a hostile work environment.” (If you still think you can sue for a hostile work environment, you need to sign up for my 7 Free Work Law Secrets Email Course). The second thing people want to sue for is “intentional infliction of emotional distress.” This also rarely works, and I don't advise pursuing it, but...
...but a women named Gina Strong in Washington State recently has some success suing her boss for negligent … [Read more...]

Many people have written about "Signs You're Getting Terminated," but all those articles miss the natural progression that usually occurs. These signs don't appear scatter shot around you like the pellets of a shotgun blast. No, it's more ordered than that. There are a series of steps that occur before you are terminated. One leads to the next, like the steps of "walking the plank" toward termination and falling into the cold ocean of unemployment.
Through my decade of practicing employment law and through my previous years in human resources, I came to recognize a pattern that almost always occurs, with only slight variations, anytime an employee is fired.
Due to these rough economic times, I've added a step at the beginning which is not always there, but certainly increases the … [Read more...]

Economy Down, Unemployment Claims Up
With our economy the way it is, I decided to prepare a guide to filing for unemployment benefits. My idea was to explain how the unemployment system works, what the standard is for accepting or rejecting claims, and then add in stories from my own experience about what the best tactics and common mistakes are in filing for unemployment benefits.
Scam "Services"
In researching what others were already saying on the internet, I was alarmed to find "businesses" selling something that at first looks like legal services for people who want to file an unemployment claim. However, after you fill in your information (I did it just to see what the site was really offering) you have to check a box agreeing to a long waiver -- where you agree you are not … [Read more...]